Turkmenistan: President Saparmurat Niyazov, who created a vast cult of personality during two decades of iron-fisted rule over arid, energy-rich Turkmenistan, has died, officials said Thursday. He was 66.
The eccentric leader was known for outlandish projects, including a man-made lake in the Kara Kum desert, a vast cypress forest to change the desert climate, an ice palace outside the capital, a ski resort and a 130-foot pyramid.
Niyazov died early Thursday of heart failure and showed a black-framed portrait of the man who had ordered citizens to refer to him as ‘Turkmenbashi’—the Father of All Turkmen. An announcer in a dark suit read a list of Niyazov's accomplishments.
He did not seem seriously ill; two weeks ago he appeared in public to formally open an amusement park named after him outside the capital.
He ordered the months and days of the week named after himself and his family, and statues of him were erected throughout the nation. He is listed as author of the Rukhnama (Book of the Soul) that was required reading in schools. Children pledged allegiance to him every morning.
"His death means a terrible shock for the republic, its residents and the political class. It's comparable to a shock the Soviet Union felt after Stalin's death," Vyacheslav Nikonov, head of the Moscow-based Politika think tank, was quoted as saying by the RIA-Novosti news agency.
Turkmenistan -- a majority Muslim country dominated by the vast Kara Kum desert -- has the world's fifth-largest natural gas reserves, but Niyazov failed to convert that wealth into prosperity for his country's 5 million people.
Earlier this year, the eccentric leader announced he would provide citizens with natural gas and power free of charge through 2030. But he has also tapped the country's vast energy wealth for outlandish projects -- a huge, man-made lake in the Kara Kum desert, a vast cypress forest to change the desert climate, an ice palace outside the capital, a ski resort and a 40-meter (130-foot) pyramid.
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